Aventinus, Annalium boiorum libri septem, Ingolstadt, 1554, Roman brown morocco by the Vatican Bindery

AVENTINUS [THURMAIER], JOHANNES. Annalium Boiorum libri septem Ioanne Aventino autore. Accessit rerum & verborum memorabilium index copiosus. Ingolstadt: Alexander and Samuel Weissenhorn, December 1554

A TALL COPY IN A FINE NEAR-CONTEMPORARY BINDING. The arms of Giacomo Boncompagni, the natural son of Gregory XIII, are surmounted here by the papal insignia, in recognition of his role as Papal Gonfalonier, though later in life he patronised musicians and men of letters and amassed a substantial library, organised by the historian Carlo Sigonio, whose library Boncompagni obtained after Sigonio’s death. Matching bindings, with the same central armorial and corner-pieces, though with a different border, are illustrated in Legatura romana barocca 1565-1700, item 4 (an empty binding) and in Hobson & Culot, Italian and French 16th-century bookbindings, item 21 (Plotinus, Basel, 1559).

FIRST EDITION of the first significant history of a region of Germany, which preserves some early texts which would otherwise have been lost, though some text critical of the papacy was excised. Aventinus (1477-1534) was appointed to write a history of Bavaria by Wilhelm IV of Bavaria, and although written by 1521, the text was not printed until 1554, twenty years after his death. The dedications and prefaces, including the life of Aventinus, have all been removed from this copy; the book had been placed on the Index of Prohibited Books by 1564 and criticised by Cardinal Baronio.

Folio (347 x 222 mm). Roman type with marginalia in italics, 45 lines plus headline. Collation: π-2π⁴ aa-cc⁶ dd⁴ A-Z a-z Aa-Zz⁶ Aaa⁴: 441 leaves (of 448, lacking π2-3 and 2π1-3, lacking Hh2_5 and a duplicate of Hh3-4 supplied instead). Woodcut portrait of the author (2π4) pasted to π4v, woodcut initials. (A few small wormholes, some light foxing or browning.)

Binding: Near-contemporary Roman brown morocco gilt (358 x 249 mm), by the Vatican Bindery, central armorial of Giacomo Boncompagni, gilt roll-tooled border with small dragon stamp at outer corners, panel-stamped leafy inner corner-pieces, spine with small gilt dragon stamp and lettered in gilt at head, gilt edges, stubs from two pairs of ties. (Corners repaired, ends of spine repaired, slight damage to foot of spine, a few small scrapes.)

Provenance: Giacomo Boncompagni (1548-1612), duca di Sora, arms on binding — early shelfmark on inside front cover, "Bor.I.n 15(?)" — Boncompagni family, ink stamp on title-page and old shelf mark "H.II.10" — Patrick King Rare Books, catalogue 14 (Stony Stratford, 1987), item 48 — Kenneth John Hewett (1919-1994), booklabel on inside lower cover — Patrick King Rare Books, catalogue 17 (Stony Stratford, 1999), item 51. Acquisition: Purchased in 1999 from Patrick King, Stony Stratford. References: VD16 T 2318